23 November 2012

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has issued a formal warning to Britannia Care Homes (Sussex) Limited that it must make urgent improvements at a care home in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex.

A warning notice has been issued following an unannounced inspection of Greenaways, in Collington Avenue, in October.

Inspectors found that the home was failing to protect people living there against the risks of unsafe or inappropriate care. Care plans did not always contain enough information to make sure that individual needs were met. This put people at risk of harm.

Ian Biggs, Deputy Director of CQC in the South, said:

“We check the standards of quality and safety in care that the law says everyone should be able to expect. These standards exist to protect people who cannot always speak up for themselves from being put at risk of harm. Providers have a duty to be compliant.

“Our inspectors will return in the near future to carry out another unannounced inspection. If we find that the home is not making the required progress we won’t hesitate to use our legal powers further to protect the people who live there.”

Ends

For further information please contact the CQC press office on 0207 448 9239 or out of hours on 07917 232143.

If the required improvements are not made, CQC has a range of enforcement powers which include restricting the services that a provider can offer, or, in the most serious cases, suspending or cancelling a service. CQC can also issue financial penalty notices and cautions or prosecute the provider for failing to meet essential standards. Any regulatory decision that CQC takes is open to challenge by a registered person through a variety of internal and external appeal processes.

About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.

We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.